Dublin Independent Fashion Week made a resounding return for its second year last week, with a reinvigorated format and expanded line-up of fashion events.
Megan McGuigan of Solstice by Seeking Judy was one of the seven slow-fashion designers on this year’s committee.
If you have ever walked through George’s Street Arcade in Dublin city centre, you probably recognise McGuigan’s work. Solstice is her contemporary luxury knitwear line inspired by the mythology and folktales of Ireland.
“We’re already seeing all these successful brands with Irish people in them – from the very top to the bottom,” McGuigan says, pointing to leading designers such as Simone Rocha and Loewe’s creative director Jonathan Anderson.
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“We want to show that maybe you don’t have to leave, maybe there’s a thriving community of creators and designers here. We hope to invite people back.”
Responding to the lack of an official fashion week in Ireland, Dublin Independent Fashion Week (DIFW) provides a platform for both emerging and established talents in Irish fashion to showcase their work to national and international audiences. A two-day Irish Design Showroom in the Banquet Hall of Smock Alley Theatre, Dublin, on November 15th and 16th offered 20 local talents a platform.
Tipperary-based designer and fellow committee member Laoise Carey says the group would love to continue expanding the programme for next year, with “a bigger venue or even multiple venues across Dublin”. Carey says that filling a venue such as the RDS would be a goal for future fashion weeks.
After receiving a large number of applications from a designer open call, the committee decided to introduce a Ones to Watch feature this year highlighting six promising Irish designers ready to take the fashion world by storm. The budding designers given a platform were JAF Studios, Five One Seven Eight, Ciara Egan, Lily Breslin, Martin Dolan and Niamh M Saunders.
Cofounded by Clara Murphy and Pieter Maes, Five One Seven Eight is a new umbrella brand – perfect for our wet climate.
“We’ve only started about three months ago. It’s great that we’re here and we get to show off our ruffle umbrella and some of our handles.”
Murphy says the idea came from her mother. “My mom said why don’t you just start making cool umbrellas, I can’t find any cool umbrellas ... and it kind of just made sense with Ireland,” Murphy says.
An eclectic collection of colourful 3D printed umbrella handles were on show at Smock Alley Theatre. Murphy pulls out one, seamlessly undoing the base of it to reveal a secret lighter stowed away inside. Five One Seven Eight hopes to collaborate with an Irish make-up brand to incorporate other everyday items such as lipstick and perfume into similar compartments.
The pair show off an edgy knuckle-duster and glow in the dark versions of the handles, as well as raindrop charm accessories that can be attached to your umbrella.
Jeweller Ciara Egan uses recycled metal to create her Celtic-inspired pieces and not even the silver dust shavings go to waste.
“I don’t really want it to be for one particular gender or anything like that so all of my stuff is designed to be worn by anybody, anywhere,” Egan says. Highlighting a barbed-wire necklace, she says Dublin’s brutalist cityscapes have influenced some of her designs.
Asked how she came to hear about the opportunity, Egan says: “I’d know a couple of the designers that are displaying here and one of them had suggested to me to throw my hat into the ring for this. I hadn’t thought of putting myself forward for anything like this at all, because of the impostor syndrome.
“There’s been a couple of late nights in the studio now to get ready for it but I’m really happy to be involved.”
Co-chairperson Aisling Duffy says that organising fashion week has been a big learning experience.
“All of us on the committee are designers first and foremost, we all run our own brands. This was a learning experience in terms of we had to become event producers and managers and dealing with all the logistics of everything involved,” Duffy says.
One of the highlights for Duffy was seeing McGuigan’s show held last Monday: “I saw her first show and the light that came through the windows, with the smoke and her collection, honestly I cried. I think it was like we’ve actually done this. It’s been months and months of work so that was really incredible.”
Looking ahead to next year, Duffy adds: “It’s about distilling everything for next year, maybe fine-tuning a few different things but our hope is that more people will get involved.”
The DIFW 2024 Irish Design Showroom in Smock Alley Theatre was part-funded by the Design & Crafts Council Ireland, going live in conjunction with Irish Design Week.
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